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Preliminary observations by Council of Europe Anti-Torture
Committee (CPT) after visit to Bosnia and
Herzegovina in March 2007
Strasbourg - 16.07.2007 - The CPT’s March 2007 visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina
provided an opportunity to assess the progress made since the first
periodic visit in April/May 2003 and the ad hoc visit in December 2004. The
Committee’s delegation examined in detail various issues related to prisons,
including the regime and treatment of remand prisoners and those prisoners
placed in isolation. Particular concerns were expressed concerning the unsafe
nature of some of the prisons visited, notably those in Zenica and Doboj, where
it appeared that prison staff were not in complete control.
The situation of forensic psychiatric patients was another focal point of the
visit, the CPT’s delegation looking into the treatment of patients at Sokolac
Psychiatric Hospital and Zenica Prison Forensic Psychiatric Annexe. The
delegation encouraged the authorities to take a more multidisciplinary planning
approach towards the establishment of a State-level forensic psychiatric
hospital.
The situation of residents in two social care homes was examined for the first
time, and the authorities were urged to improve the safeguards afforded to persons
placed in such homes. The importance of developing a proper legal framework for
social care homes in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was also stressed.
Particular attention was also paid to the treatment of persons detained by the
police and to the practical operation of safeguards against ill-treatment.
By letter of 31 May 2007, the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina responded to
the various matters raised in the preliminary observations made by the
delegation at the end of the visit on 30 March 2007.
The preliminary observations and
the response are published with the agreement of the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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